What is Coaching?
So JJ, what is this coaching lark of which you speak?
Good question. I don’t discuss this very often.
Let’s start by looking at the various ways coaching authorities describe Coaching:
an … ongoing relationship which focuses on clients taking action toward the realization of their visions, goals and desires.
– Personal and Professional Coaching Association.
Coaching involves holding out a possibility in front of others whilst coaching them to move to the next level with relentless compassion.
– Robert Hargrove.
Coaching is a collaborative process that amplifies and accelerates self-discovery, promotes clarity, creativity and choice, and helps people achieve – and often exceed – their goals more quickly and more efficiently than they would without the partnership of a coach.
– The Academy for Coach Training.
Effective coaching challenges limiting assumptions embedded in our viewpoints about self and others in a way different than teaching or training… coaching is a unique form of dialogue that expands an individual’s capacity to transform his or her limiting beliefs.
– William Stockton.
So what does this mean in the real world?
Well coaching is really a dialogue between the coach and client with the goal of helping the client lead a happier, more awesome life.
This is achieved by:
- increasing the client’s level of self-awareness
- setting goals which will add to the client’s quality of life
- achieving those goals.
Simple, right?
So what does the coach contribute in this process?
Clarity - The coach asks questions to help the client build up a clear picture of what they really want.
Ideas - The coach may lead the client in exploring options they may not have considered before
Accountability - The coach will hold the client accountable for their actions. The coach may give the client homework to complete between sessions.
Brainstorming and Collaboration - The coach acts as a non-judgmental sounding board for new ideas. She creates a creative and supportive brainstorming environment.
Support – The coach provides encouragement for new ideas and supports the client in their decisions.
Challenge - The coach may challenge the client to expand their comfort zone, break old habits and pursue new beneficial directions in their life.
Validation - The coach may provide validation, support and encouragement.
Direction – The coach helps the client to gain perspective in times of overwhelm or confusion. She may also voice her opinion or give advice if it is necessary to move the conversation forward.
This last point, about advice, is a controversial one. Many well-respected coaches and coaching academies will disagree with me on this, stating that coaching should be entirely non-directive.
My view is that clients will often get overwhelmed and confused. And when we get overwhelmed our minds and bodies can shut down and ideas can appear out of our reach. Figuring it out becomes very difficult for someone experiencing overwhelm. In my opinion a suggestion or piece of advice can work wonders to give the client the support, structure and confidence they need to move forwards.
Now, if you are observant you’ll notice that I do not describe myself as a coach, but rather as a mentor (or sometimes as a consultant, if I’m feeling a bit fancy.)
My clients are coaches, consultants, home business owners, small business owners or managers within larger corporations. My work with my clients is directive.
I work within a framework similar to the one I’m sharing with you on this blog here and I give specific advice and guidance – lots of it. I am an expert in this area, and I would be doing my clients a disservice if I did not.
To avoid confusion within the industry I do not use the term coach to describe what I do, even though I like it!
Coach JJ just sounds cool.
Don’t you think? 
JJ Jalopy.
The Worst Advice You’ve Ever Heard about Starting a Coaching or Consulting Business.
Rare is the day when I’m not flagged down in the street and asked the following question*:
JJ, What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever heard about starting a coaching or consulting business?
And every time I respond the same way.
What an excellent question, I say. The worst piece of advice I’ve heard about starting a business of this kind is…
“Build it and they will come.”
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
“Build it and they will come.”
It has a great ring to it.
There’s only one problem with it.
(It’s a big problem.)
It’s this…
They won’t come.
You might be the greatest life coach in the world. You might have splashed out on the flashiest website the world has ever seen. Your business card might be so beautiful it makes you cry, BUT…
…if people don’t know who you are, they’re not going to come looking for you.
If you’re struggling to get enough clients you should have one priority and one priority only.
And that’s getting more clients.
Marketing your coaching business is the single most important thing you could be doing.
If you have no clients then nothing else matters. Not your training. Not your qualification. Not your website. Not this article right here.
Why are you still reading? Go!
JJ Jalopy.
P.S. Don’t believe me? Check this out.
* This may not be entirely representative of reality.
Business Idea Brainstorming. I need inspiration!
In preparation for the release of the Market Testing Kit, I’m running a short series for those of you without a business or those of you looking to do business in a new market.
To kick things off we spoke about our tendency to put good business ideas on a pedestal, and how that can stop us getting started in business.
Then we rolled up our sleeves to come up with loads of ideas for your future business.
Today we’re going to elaborate on the brainstorming process. I’ll share some ideas on where you can get inspiration for entrepreneurial ideas.
Struggling to come up with business ideas?
The other day I set you the challenge of coming up with tons of ideas for markets to explore in your soon-to-be brand new business venture.
I suggested that you put aside the critical part of your mind for a while and really got creative.
For some people, this blank page approach may have been somewhat overwhelming.
So if you’re struggling, allow me to present some little strategies to get your creative juices stirring…
1. What are you passionate about?
This is a great place to start – especially if you’re are looking to take your very first leap into the business world.
Do you have any hobbies or interests about which you know an enormous amount?
What magazines do you subscribe to?
What are your favorite websites?
My imaginary friend Nigel is into model railroad in a big way. When he’s not relaxing with a cup of tea, reading Model Railroad Enthusiast magazine, or chatting to fellow enthusiasts on his favorite model railroad forum, Nigel can be found in his attic, building and maintaining his model railroad.
Nigel is a model railway nut!
It makes perfect sense that Nigel should start his business idea brainstorm right here, in the model railroad world.
It’s something he knows a huge amount about. It’s something he is passionate about. It’s something that he speaks confidently and enthusiastically about.
And he already has a great idea who his market is and where they hang out.
So what ideas might Nigel write down?
Well… he’s going to want to get a little more specific than “model railroad stuff”. Perhaps he’d come up with something like the following:
- instructional DVDs on building a model railroad
- rare or vintage railroad parts
- model railroad machinery
- model railroad software
- model railroad plans or layouts
- a model railroad online museum
Not all of the ideas he comes up will be very good, but he shouldn’t be concerned about that right now.
He’s just coming up with ideas and getting them down on paper.
2. Borders is your friend.
I have long maintained that the Borders chain of bookstores is the greatest place in the world for market research and for meeting your future life partner.
Have a walk around and look at all the categories. Travel, history, computing, D.I.Y., gardening, cooking etc… Look at all the different topics and subjects within each section. You have the whole world under one roof here. You should have ideas coming out of your ears!
The For Dummies series can be great inspiration too. Each of these books is written to a large target audience of people who want to learn about something specific. Can you find a specific market within one of these books? Be creative.
Now, before you go and grab that coffee, go and check out the magazine rack. Every subject that people want to spend money to read about is here. And each of these magazines is written to a specific target audience. They’ve already done the market research.
Don’t pay attention to the subjects only. Take a look inside and see what people are selling. Look at the advertisements. Could you sell something similar to this market?
Finally, now you’ve written down a ton of great ideas, you can go for a coffee with that nice lady you met as you both reached for the same copy of Stamp Collecting World.
3. Online Research and Trend Spotting
There are countless great online resources to help you discover what people are interested in and what they’re buying.
Here are just a few…
What are people buying online?
Market Trends
How to websites
4. Springwise.com – New Business Ideas from Around the World
Billed as “your daily fix of entrepreneurial ideas”, Springwise.com is a website full of new business ideas. It’s really rather wonderful.
I inhale their newsletter every week. And, as a future world dominating entrepreneur, I think that you should too.
5. Keyword Suggestion Tools
Free keyword suggestion tools like Wordtracker and the Google AdWords Keyword Tool will return related keywords based on a starting keyword you supply.
What’s a keyword, you ask?
It’s what someone types into a search engine when they’re trying to find something. We call that a keyword, even though it’s usually made up of more than one word. Keyword Phrase would work better really, wouldn’t it?
So if Nigel types “model railroad” as his starting keyword then he’ll see a list of related phrases that people search for, as well as an indication of the number of people that search for that phrase each month.
This is an excellent source of ideas and you can get a quick and easy idea of the potential size of the market.
Unlike me, Nigel probably knows a fair bit about atlas model railroad. It could lead him to come up with a great idea that he had yet to think of.
Any more suggestions?
Put them in the comments. Sharing is caring!
JJ Jalopy.
Business Idea Brainstorm-o-rama!
In preparation for the release of the Market Testing Kit, I’m running a short series for those of you without a business or looking to do business in a new market.
To kick things off we spoke about our tendency to put good business ideas on a pedestal, and how that can stop us getting started in business.
Today we’re going to roll up our sleeves and come up with loads of ideas for your future business. We’re going to do some brainstorming.
Hence the silly title.
But first, let’s get one thing out of the way.
Many people believe they are no good at coming up with ideas.
“Just not creative”, eh?
If you think this describes you then here’s what I’d like you to do…
- Go to the kitchen and find a fish. A trout would be perfect.
- Holding the fish by its tail, wave it laterally back and forth.
- Move fish towards face. Or face towards fish. Doesn’t really matter.
- Slap face with wet fish.
- Return to the article.
Good. How was that for compassionate support and understanding from your favorite business coach?
Fine. I’ll try a bit harder…
Lots of people come up with idea after idea on a daily basis.
Are they different from you?
Probably not. I doubt that these people have any special powers that you don’t possess. I doubt that you’re missing some kind of creativity gene.
My guess would be that the reason you think you “can’t come up with ideas” is one or all of the following:
- You lack of confidence in your creative powers.
- You lack confidence in the ideas you actually do come up with.
- You haven’t had consistent practice in the art of coming up with ideas.
In our ongoing brainstorming process, we’re going to systematically shoot each one of these three lame ducks.
(No real ducks will be harmed. We’re hippies ’round here, remember?)
Ready?
Oh yeah! Let’s go…
The Brainstorming Mindset
You know that guy (yes, it is usually a guy) who can always identify exactly why something isn’t a good idea, what it’s flaws are and exactly how it’s going to fail?
(They’re usually pretty easy to find because they tend to enjoy sharing their analysis.)
These people are great to have around when you’re planning the implementation of your projects. But you want them well out of the way when you’re brainstorming.
Slap this part of you with the fish for a little while and then lock it in the closet until later.
Brainstorming is all about possibilities.
The result we’re after is to come up with a load of good ideas, but that’s not the process.
The process is to come up with as many ideas as we can. On analysis, they might turn out to be terrible, but we’re quieting the critical part of our mind for now.
Crazy ideas are encouraged. If you think about selling jewelry to seahorses then write it down. Seahorses like to look good too, you know…
If you have a family, a job, or opposable thumbs then I know that you successfully come up with creative answers to problems all the time. Your “business” life is no different from the rest of your life. You bring the same person to the table.
The difference is your belief. Believe that you CAN come up with great ideas.
Because you totally can.
Hey Ho, Let’s Go!
I want to challenge you to come up with LOTS of ideas.
It’s through stretching ourselves that our most interesting ideas will be born.
So pick a number. 50? 100? And challenge yourself to come up with that many ideas.
Write numbers down the left hand side of a piece of paper (or two or four.)
Write down what comes to you until you’ve completed that list.
Don’t censor.
Don’t over think.
Don’t worry if your ideas suck. Lots of them will. It’s fine. We all have sucky ideas all the time.
Some of them are gonna be great though!
I’m struggling, JJ. I can’t fill my page.
It can be hard. But in flexing your creative muscles like this, you’re making it much easier to do this in the future.
If you’re struggling then take a walk away from your paper. Tell yourself that you need some ideas, and then put your mind somewhere else for a while. Go for a walk. Go paint the seahorse’s nails. Go for a nap.
Naps are great creativity fodder, by the way.
I guarantee that ideas will come. Don’t judge them too much – write them down!
Cool. I have a ton of ideas. What’s next?
Great job. Well done.
Now it’s time to get a bit more critical. Stay tuned!
JJ Jalopy.
Your Business Idea Is Not Special.
“I’m going to quit my job and start working for myself.
…just as soon as I come up with a fantastic idea.”
Does this sound at all familiar?
The reason many people do not start their own businesses is because they’re waiting for a perfect and unique idea to hit them upside the head.
If only the right idea could come along I’d make a fortune, they say.
If only I’d been the first to think of that bagless vacuum cleaner, wind-up radio or erectile disfunction remedy, they think, then I’d surely be a millionaire by now.
Well… allow me to share a secret.
Other successful business folk aren’t going to like me for this, but here goes…
Your business idea really isn’t that important.
A given business idea is rarely inherently good or bad.
(Well okay. Sometimes they can be bad, but it’s rare. The worst I heard involved tapeworm. You don’t really want to know.)
Provided that an idea isn’t totally unethical or logistically impossible, it’s likely that you could make it work. If you wanted to.
You can turn most ideas into profitable businesses if you want.
People want a lot of different stuff, some of it rather mundane. The availability of bagless vacuum cleaners does not stop people from wanting to buy milk.
When we look in hindsight at successful businesses, it can be tempting to attribute their success to a really smart and unique original concept. If we dig deeper though, we see that the “magic” is usually in the implementation or the marketing.
It’s usually the doing, rather than the thinking, that makes the difference.
Your local farmer didn’t need a great idea to make his business work. He just did what works and he did it well.
Soft drinks existed way before Coca Cola took over the beverage world.
Search engines and web portals existed way before Google did it bigger, better, faster, louder and more efficiently.
So, Mr. JJ, I have a question… You tell me that most business ideas could be made to work. You tell me that the magic is in the implementation and the marketing, not necessarily the concept itself. It all makes sense, but isn’t that a weird thing for you to be saying, given that you’re creating a Market Testing Kit thingy to help us figure out whether out business ideas are likely to succeed or not?
Ah, yes. Good point.
You see, markets aren’t really created equal.
It’s actually easier to build a successful and business farming the land than inventing bagless vacuum cleaners.
Good online market research is about finding proven and predictable markets which offer the greatest chance of success.
It’s about finding the right place to start your farm.
So first, we’re going to come up with some ideas…
Stay tuned for a business idea brainstorming extravaganza!
JJ Jalopy.
P.S. Go here to find out more about the forthcoming Market Testing Kit and sign-up my advance discount Email list.
P.P.S. In a previous post I promised a poem for the next person to sign up to my advance discount mailing list. The winner was Philip from San Francisco. I apologize in advance…
There was a young man from San Francisco
Who had an idea for a business at the (ahem) disco.
Was the market legit?
He used his Market Testing Kit
And he throughly worked out the risk-o.”
I’ll get my coat…
What my public speaking disasters can teach you about starting a business.
Last week I delivered a lively talk about off-balance sheet accounting to a crowd of a few hundred excited accountants and consultants.
(Please bear with me – there is a point coming. I tell you this not just to impress upon you how rock-and-roll my life is outside of the walls of this website!)
It went pretty well thank you very much. The nerds loved it.
Was I nervous?
Not really. I’ve done this kind of thing many times before. Excited, perhaps.
It hasn’t always been this way though.
Before I had done much public speaking I’d had the vague idea that I might be good at it. I was pretty happy in this belief and didn’t feel a great urge to go out and prove it in the real world by actually doing much of it.
In fact, the thing that sticks in my mind when I look back to the times when I had to speak in public was not the fear of public speaking itself, but rather a sense of not wanting to prove myself wrong by finding out that I was actually a bit rubbish.
During my time at university there would be times when I had to speak in public. I prepared (more or less). I got nervous. I talked. People seemed to enjoy it. I felt relieved. And then I forgot about it all and went to the bar, content in the knowledge that I was a public speaking superstar.
Later, in 2002, I took a job in which I would do much more public speaking. Despite the underwhelming abundance of evidence in my favor, I was pretty confident that I would be brilliant at it.
I prepared extensively for my first talk. I wrote copious notes. I memorized entire paragraphs and phrases. I practiced under my breath on the tube into work.
I was incredibly nervous before the talk. My hands were shaking. I was sweating. I couldn’t keep my legs still.
I stood up and I spoke in front of hundreds of people. It was all a bit of a blur but people seemed to enjoy it. They stared back at me as I spoke with interested looks on their faces. They laughed in all the right places – a bit too much sometimes.
I felt relieved and elated.
I truly was a public speaking rock star! I went to the bar and celebrated my obvious brilliance.
As I spoke more and more, however, I slowly began to make a few new distinctions.
I learned how to structure my talks more effectively. I learned how I could better hold the interest of the crowd with my gaze. I learned that if you don’t prepare, your talk invariably sucks. I learned when to be serious and when to be lighthearted. I learned that sometimes it’s best not to tell my silly jokes all the time.
I could now see that my earlier speaking ability has improved dramatically in the last seven years. And that those very first performances included a lot of room for improvement. I could have structured them much better. I could have told far fewer inappropriate jokes!
Why did it take me so long to make these distinctions?
Because, in the beginning, I was nervous, afraid of looking silly, and looking only for validation that I was awesome.
I didn’t have the awareness to step back and make distinctions about what worked and what didn’t.
This is where it turns into a really tenuous metaphor about your business.
Starting a business can be a bit like this.
In the beginning you can expect to be nervous, anxious and searching for validation that you’re doing the right thing.
At this point, you’ll lack the experience and objectivity to make this distinction.
It’s only after you’ve rolled up your sleeves, gotten busy and made a few mistakes that you can look objectively at what you’re doing and really start to grow.
The important thing in the beginning – and the thing that really separates those who are successful from those who are not – is taking action.
Get on that podium and tell some inappropriate jokes. You’ll figure out the lessons soon enough.
JJ Jalopy.
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